The present invention relates to drum beaters for use in a drum performance, and drum foot pedal apparatus which generate a tone by pivoting such a drum beater, in response to depression of a foot board, to thereby strike a drum head or bass drum pad (kick pad) with the drum beater.
Drum foot pedal apparatus have been known which generate a tone by pivoting a beater, in response to depression of a foot board, to thereby strike a drum head with the head of the drum beater. The conventionally-known drum foot pedal apparatus, as shown for example in Japanese Patent No. 2806301 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Literature 1”), include a pivot shaft having the beater mounted thereon, a pair of left and right struts pivotably supporting the pivot shaft, and a transmission member, such as a chain, interconnecting the distal end of the foot board and the pivot shaft. According to the disclosure of Patent Literature 1, a spring (extension or tension coil spring) for normally urging or biasing the foot board toward an initial (non-depressed) position of the foot board (and hence for, once a human player removes depressing force, causing the depressed foot board to return to the initial position by resilient returning force imparted thereby) is connected to either or both of the opposite ends of the pivot shaft. The spring is engaged at its upper end by a roller, via a link member, that is in turn rotatably supported on a crank arm, and also the spring is engaged at its lower end in a through-hole of an adjusting screw provided for adjusting the tension of the spring.
With the aforementioned conventionally-known foot pedal apparatus, it is necessary to adjust the weight of the beater (i.e., beater head and beater rod), in order to adjust a feel with which the beater head strikes the drum head (i.e., drum-striking feel), a tone generated by the beater head striking the drum head (i.e., drum-striking tone) and a depressing feel of the foot board. As one example of a beater weight adjusting mechanism for meeting such a need, a structure has been known which permits positional adjustment of a weight member attached to the beater rod, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,122,730 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Literature 2”). The structure disclosed in Patent Literature 2 is designed to adjust the attached position of the weight member on the beater rod by use of a tool. Also known is a structure in which a weight member attached to the beater is retained by screwing, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 8,633,367 (hereinafter referred to as “Patent Literature 3”). In the structure disclosed in Patent Literature 3, a lid member is mounted to the front surface of the beater, and the weight member is attached by screwing to the front surface after removal of the lid member. The structure disclosed in Patent Literature 3 can adjust the weight of the beater by changing the number and/or type of the weight member to be attached to the beater. Also known is a structure in which a weight member is inserted into an insertion hole formed in the beater and retained in the insertion hole by attracting force of a magnet.
However, with the structure in which the weight member is attached and detached and adjusted in position using the tool, it is not possible to perform the weight adjustment of the beater without the tool. Therefore, particularly before or during a performance, ease of performing the beater weight adjustment tends to be insufficient. Further, the structure in which the weight member is retained on the beater by screwing would present the problem that attaching and detaching the weight member is troublesome taking much time and labor. Furthermore, with the structure in which the weight member is retained by the magnet, there would be a limit to the types of materials that can be used to form the weight member, because the weight member must be retainable by the magnet's attracting force. Besides, with the structure in which the weight member is retained by the magnetic, a dedicated structure utilizing the magnet's attracting force has to be provided on the beater head, which would undesirably lead to structural complication and increased numbers of component parts of the beater and the drum foot pedal apparatus.